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About the EAGLE |
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Length: 295 feet Maximum Speed: 17 knots (under full sail) Training Complement: 12 Officers, 38 crew, 150 cadets (average) Major Missions: Training vessel for CG Academy Cadets and Officer Candidates EAGLE, the largest Tall Ship flying the Stars and Stripes and the only square-rigger in U.S. government service, is the seventh U.S. Coast Guard cutter to bear the name in a proud line dating back to 1792. The ship was built in 1936 by the Blohm and Voss Shipyard In Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned as HORST WESSEL, one of three sail training ships operated by Nazi Germany to train cadets for the growing German Navy. Five identical ships were built in Germany and we are collectively known as the "five sisters", they include: Tovarisch (Russia), Sagres II (Portugal), Mircea (Romania), and Gorch Fock II (Germany). Early in World War II EAGLE was converted to a cargo ship, transporting men and supplies throughout the Baltic Sea, but continued to perform a training mission as well. The ship is said to have downed three aircraft in combat during this period. Following World War II, it was taken as a war prize by the United States and a U.S. Coast Guard crew -- aided by the German crew still on board -- sailed the tall ship in 1946 from Bremerhaven to its new homeport in New London, Connecticut. EAGLE now serves as a seagoing classroom for future officers of the U.S. Coast Guard, the smallest but busiest of the nation's five armed services. The men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard are responsible for Maritime Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, Aids to Navigation, Ice Operations, Defense Operations, and Waterways Safety and Security. A seasoned permanent crew of six officers and 29 enlisted personnel maintain the ship year round and provide a strong base of knowledge and seamanship for the training of up to 150 cadets or officer candidates at a time. It is on the decks and in the rigging of the EAGLE that these young men and women get their first taste of salt air and life at sea. The experience helps them to develop skills of leadership and teamwork, as well as a healthy respect for the elements that will serve them for a lifetime. They are tested and challenged, often to the limits of their endurances; working aloft, they meet fear and learn to overcome it. The training they receive under sail has proven to be a valuable asset to generations of U.S. Coast Guard officers throughout their careers. EAGLE offers future officers the opportunity to put into practice the navigation, engineering, and other professional theory they have previously learned in the classroom. Upper class trainees exercise leadership and service duties normally handled by junior officers, while underclass trainees fill crew positions of a junior enlisted person, such as helm watches at the huge wooden wheels used to steer the vessel. Everyone who trains on EAGLE experiences a character building experience. To maneuver EAGLE under sail, the crew must handle more than 22,000 square feet of sail and five miles of rigging. Over 200 lines control the sails and yards, and every crew-member, cadet and officer candidate, must become intimately familiar with the name, operation, and function of each line. Like the great Cape Horn square-riggers built during the first three decades of the 20th Century -- the twilight era of sail -- EAGLE is constructed of modern materials. EAGLE has a steel hull four-tenths of an inch thick, two full-length steel decks with a platform deck below and a raised forecastle and quarterdeck; and weather decks made of three inch thick teak over steel. Its design and construction embody centuries of development in the shipbuilder's art, and EAGLE eagerly takes to the element for which it was designed, effortlessly and gracefully driving under full sail in the open ocean at speeds up to 17 knots. When in homeport in New London, EAGLE rests alongside a pier on the Thames River at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The Academy was originally founded in 1876 when nine students boarded the Revenue Cutter DOBBIN. A series of cutters followed the DOBBIN, and in 1932 a permanent shore facility was established at its present site on land donated by the New London community. Approximately 900 men and women attend the Academy, all of whom sail at one time or another on America's only active duty square rigger. Eagle serves as a seagoing classroom for approximately 175 cadets and instructors from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. On Eagle, cadets have a chance to practically apply the navigation, engineering and other training they receive in classes at the Academy. As upper-class cadets, they perform the leadership functions normally handled by junior officers. As under-class cadets, they fill positions normally taken by the enlisted crew of the ship, including helm watch at the huge brass and wood wheels used to steer the vessel. It is on the decks and rigging of the Eagle that the young men and women of the Academy get their first taste of salt air and life at sea. From this experience they develop a respect for the elements that will be with them throughout their lifetime. They are tested and challenged, often to the limits of their endurance. Working aloft they meet fear and learn to overcome it. The training cadets receive under sail has proven to be an invaluable asset during their subsequent U.S. Coast Guard careers. |
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